Review of Blackadder 2

Introduction

Ask most Blackadder fans which series they preferred and most would say that Blackadder 2 was the best, Blackadder 4 second best, Blackadder 3 third best and Blackadder 1 is best not discussed...

Blackadder 2 follows Edmund Blackadder, Baldrick and Queen Bess between 1558 and 1603 and the series` cast also includes Rik Mayall, Steven Fry, Tim McInnerny, Tom Baker and Hugh Lawrie - a recipe for a good laugh in anybody`s book.

Video

The BBC`s release of Blackadder 1 didn`t set the world alight with its picture quality and sadly Blackadder 2 is more of the same.

The six episodes, running for a total of 175 minutes, have been squeezed onto one side of a disc at the expense of picture quality. Had the BBC chosen to put three episodes on one disc and three on another, the picture quality would no doubt have been far better.

Having said that, this is better than VHS, and it`s Blackadder...

Audio

This series was made long before the BBC had even started to use NICAM stereo, so don`t expect sound effects panning around the soundstage.

The Dolby Digital Mono track is however more than adequate for getting the sidesplitting dialogue across to the viewer.

Features

Unfortunately nothing, extremely annoying when you consider than Region 1 buyers get some nice extras in their copies of Blackadder...

Conclusion

The video quality may be a little ropey, but this is Blackadder 2, one of, if not the finest comedy series ever made - and very very funny no matter how many times you watch it.

This is classic British BBC humour - and episodes like "Bells", the first on the disc featuring Rik Mayall as Lord Flashheart and Blackadder cfalling for Bob will have even the most ardent anti-Blackadder people (my dad for example!) sniggering all the way through.

A great cast, a great script and great gags more than make up for the annoyances of the video quality and lack of extras compared to Region 1.